THE meeting of hundreds of Islamic clerics who will decide the future of Osama bin Laden and Afghanistan broke up after several hours yesterday without any agreement.

Qadratullah Jamal, Taliban's culture and information minister, said the meeting would resume today.

As the meeting began in Kabul, the leader of Afghanistan's Taliban government Mullah Mohammed Omar, criticised Washington for unfairly vilifying the terrorist suspect but said it is willing to meet with US officials to discuss the matter.

In an edict issued to the council of clerics he ordered the council to make its decision about whether to extradite bin Laden, the key suspect in last week's terrorist attacks in the United States.

The gathering opened with the reading of a speech by Omar saying that Washington's portrayal of bin Laden without any evidence is an effort to harm the Taliban.

"Osama has denied his involvement. It is unfortunate that America does not listen to us and levels all sorts of charges and threatens military action," Omar said in the speech.

"We have held talks in the past with US governments several times, and we are ready for more talks." But he said, "If America still wants to attack us and to destroy the Islamic government of Afghanistan, we want to get the religious decision from you, our respected religious scholars."

The clerics were also expected to decide whether Muslims in Afghanistan and other countries should declare a holy war against the United States if its forces attack Afghanistan.

As the meeting, which was closed to the general public, got under way, dozens of turbaned Taliban soldiers armed with rocket-launchers and Kalashnikov rifles stood guard outside the giant cement walls that surround the palace, lined with gaping holes from years of fighting in Kabul.

As many as 1,000 clerics from across the country, some driving hundreds of miles along dirt roads, travelled to the capital to help the Taliban leadership in Afghanistan decide its next step.

Bin Laden, a Saudi multi-millionaire and an exile from his own country, is the main suspect in the case, and Pakistan officials met Taliban leaders in Afghanistan earlier this week to discuss the US demand to extradite him for prosecution.